Zach Cofran
@dizachster.bsky.social
Associate professor of Anthropology, HEAD (Human Evolution and Development) Lab @ Vassar College. Bones & brains. lawnchairanthropology.com
Awesome new hominin fossils from Ethiopia 3.5 million years ago, by Yohannes Haile-Selassie & co www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The new juvenile hip bone 😍 (left in image) has a long ischium like other juvenile Australopithecus (center) and unlike later humans like Homo naledi (right)
The new juvenile hip bone 😍 (left in image) has a long ischium like other juvenile Australopithecus (center) and unlike later humans like Homo naledi (right)
November 26, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Awesome new hominin fossils from Ethiopia 3.5 million years ago, by Yohannes Haile-Selassie & co www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The new juvenile hip bone 😍 (left in image) has a long ischium like other juvenile Australopithecus (center) and unlike later humans like Homo naledi (right)
The new juvenile hip bone 😍 (left in image) has a long ischium like other juvenile Australopithecus (center) and unlike later humans like Homo naledi (right)
Reposted by Zach Cofran
Australopithecus deyiremeda 🤝 Burtele foot www.sciencenews.org/article/foot... 🏺🧪
A foot fossil suggests a second early human relative lived alongside Lucy
Foot bones and other fossils have been attributed to Australopithecus deyiremeda, a recently discovered species that may shake up the human family tree.
www.sciencenews.org
November 26, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Australopithecus deyiremeda 🤝 Burtele foot www.sciencenews.org/article/foot... 🏺🧪
Reposted by Zach Cofran
Peter Thiel says he read Rene Girard but I don't think he gets it: mimesis is when you keep obsessing about the Antichrist that you get entangled with it, you mimic it, start to transform into it
In newly leaked audio, Peter Thiel admits he urged JD Vance to ignore Pope Leo XIV on moral questions — including the ethical development of AI.
He goes even further, branding Leo “the woke American pope” and suggesting he’s a tool of the Antichrist.
He goes even further, branding Leo “the woke American pope” and suggesting he’s a tool of the Antichrist.
NEW: JD Vance’s Top Donor Suggests Pope Leo XIV is Antichrist
In a leaked lecture, Peter Thiel says he’s urged Vance to ignore the pope on moral questions — and simply pray for him.
www.thelettersfromleo.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Peter Thiel says he read Rene Girard but I don't think he gets it: mimesis is when you keep obsessing about the Antichrist that you get entangled with it, you mimic it, start to transform into it
Reposted by Zach Cofran
Coming together to eat the food we share has been part of humanity from the very beginning. I wrote this post after a Thanksgiving week lecture on evidence for Neanderthals and other ancient people making prepared mixtures of grains, lentils, and other foods.
www.johnhawks.net/p/a-neandert...
www.johnhawks.net/p/a-neandert...
A Neandertal recipe with lentils and grain
Looking at a fascinating new study that finds mixtures of different plants within ancient morsels of charred foods.
www.johnhawks.net
November 25, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Coming together to eat the food we share has been part of humanity from the very beginning. I wrote this post after a Thanksgiving week lecture on evidence for Neanderthals and other ancient people making prepared mixtures of grains, lentils, and other foods.
www.johnhawks.net/p/a-neandert...
www.johnhawks.net/p/a-neandert...
Reposted by Zach Cofran
This is a remarkable open access resource for genomic work on living great apes.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A curated dataset of great ape genome diversity - Scientific Data
Scientific Data - A curated dataset of great ape genome diversity
www.nature.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:13 PM
This is a remarkable open access resource for genomic work on living great apes.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Zach Cofran
I think @brendannyhan.bsky.social is exactly right in this piece, but I’d go one step further here. Elites very explicitly told young people to sit down and shut up. Society punished them for standing up for their beliefs, and targeted and vilified the organizers. Now we need need them.
November 24, 2025 at 2:27 PM
I think @brendannyhan.bsky.social is exactly right in this piece, but I’d go one step further here. Elites very explicitly told young people to sit down and shut up. Society punished them for standing up for their beliefs, and targeted and vilified the organizers. Now we need need them.
Reposted by Zach Cofran
I have a story today about interoception--a kind of sixth sense that delivers information from within our bodies to our brains. nyti.ms/4rfTDtn
nyti.ms
November 25, 2025 at 12:49 PM
I have a story today about interoception--a kind of sixth sense that delivers information from within our bodies to our brains. nyti.ms/4rfTDtn
Reposted by Zach Cofran
Attn all human MRI/fMRI folks! The Dept of Psychology at Northeastern University is hiring a new Director of the NU Biomedical Imaging Center at the level of Associate or Full Professor. Bonus: you'll have the best Chair EVER 😉 Full ad here: northeastern.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/careers/job/...
Associate Professor/Professor and Director, Northeastern University Biomedical Imaging Center
About the Opportunity About Northeastern: Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global research (R1) university and the recognized leader in experience-driven lifelong learning. Our world-renowned experi...
northeastern.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Attn all human MRI/fMRI folks! The Dept of Psychology at Northeastern University is hiring a new Director of the NU Biomedical Imaging Center at the level of Associate or Full Professor. Bonus: you'll have the best Chair EVER 😉 Full ad here: northeastern.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/careers/job/...
Reposted by Zach Cofran
The marvelous Lucy was discovered #OnThisDay in 1974 in Ethiopia. At more than 3 million years old, she was the oldest, most complete ancestor found to date. 🏺
📸Don Johanson & Maurice Taieb piecing the fossils together
📸Don Johanson & Maurice Taieb piecing the fossils together
November 24, 2025 at 6:06 PM
The marvelous Lucy was discovered #OnThisDay in 1974 in Ethiopia. At more than 3 million years old, she was the oldest, most complete ancestor found to date. 🏺
📸Don Johanson & Maurice Taieb piecing the fossils together
📸Don Johanson & Maurice Taieb piecing the fossils together
Reposted by Zach Cofran
Difficult to overstate how profound a failure DOGE was. Spending in FY2025 was not only than in FY2024 – but higher than it was projected to be when Trump first took office.*
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
Bye bye, “DOGE”.
It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
November 23, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Difficult to overstate how profound a failure DOGE was. Spending in FY2025 was not only than in FY2024 – but higher than it was projected to be when Trump first took office.*
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
Reposted by Zach Cofran
During #AAA2025 seems like a good time to re-up this. LMK if you have any questions about UGA or life in Athens!
November 22, 2025 at 11:06 PM
During #AAA2025 seems like a good time to re-up this. LMK if you have any questions about UGA or life in Athens!
Reposted by Zach Cofran
Are you local to the DC area and want to be a public engagement volunteer with us in the Hall of Human Origins? Apply now! naturalhistory.si.edu/join-us/volu...
Volunteering
Get information about volunteering at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
naturalhistory.si.edu
November 21, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Are you local to the DC area and want to be a public engagement volunteer with us in the Hall of Human Origins? Apply now! naturalhistory.si.edu/join-us/volu...
Reposted by Zach Cofran
‼️📢 Neandertal as prey‼️
We demonstrated selective cannibalism behavior at the end of the Middle Palaeolithic in Northern Europe
#Neandertal #Prehistory #Cannibalism #MiddlePaleolithic #Goyet
We demonstrated selective cannibalism behavior at the end of the Middle Palaeolithic in Northern Europe
#Neandertal #Prehistory #Cannibalism #MiddlePaleolithic #Goyet
Did Neandertals choose their prey when practicing cannibalism?🍖
Check out our new study, just published in Scientific Reports - @natureportfolio.nature.com!
We provide the strongest evidence to date for a highly selective cannibalism at the end of Neandertal lineage, 41-45.000 years ago.
1/7
Check out our new study, just published in Scientific Reports - @natureportfolio.nature.com!
We provide the strongest evidence to date for a highly selective cannibalism at the end of Neandertal lineage, 41-45.000 years ago.
1/7
Highly selective cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Europe reveals Neandertals were targeted prey - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Highly selective cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Europe reveals Neandertals were targeted prey
doi.org
November 20, 2025 at 4:46 PM
‼️📢 Neandertal as prey‼️
We demonstrated selective cannibalism behavior at the end of the Middle Palaeolithic in Northern Europe
#Neandertal #Prehistory #Cannibalism #MiddlePaleolithic #Goyet
We demonstrated selective cannibalism behavior at the end of the Middle Palaeolithic in Northern Europe
#Neandertal #Prehistory #Cannibalism #MiddlePaleolithic #Goyet
Reposted by Zach Cofran
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 12:49 PM
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Reposted by Zach Cofran
🧪🏺🦣
Hugely important new data here, I need time to digest it (🙃), but this kind of detailed contextual work is EXACTLY what we need to avoid stereotypes that #Neanderthal body processing & cannibalism were simply "brutal massacres"
Hugely important new data here, I need time to digest it (🙃), but this kind of detailed contextual work is EXACTLY what we need to avoid stereotypes that #Neanderthal body processing & cannibalism were simply "brutal massacres"
Did Neandertals choose their prey when practicing cannibalism?🍖
Check out our new study, just published in Scientific Reports - @natureportfolio.nature.com!
We provide the strongest evidence to date for a highly selective cannibalism at the end of Neandertal lineage, 41-45.000 years ago.
1/7
Check out our new study, just published in Scientific Reports - @natureportfolio.nature.com!
We provide the strongest evidence to date for a highly selective cannibalism at the end of Neandertal lineage, 41-45.000 years ago.
1/7
Highly selective cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Europe reveals Neandertals were targeted prey - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Highly selective cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Europe reveals Neandertals were targeted prey
doi.org
November 20, 2025 at 6:25 PM
🧪🏺🦣
Hugely important new data here, I need time to digest it (🙃), but this kind of detailed contextual work is EXACTLY what we need to avoid stereotypes that #Neanderthal body processing & cannibalism were simply "brutal massacres"
Hugely important new data here, I need time to digest it (🙃), but this kind of detailed contextual work is EXACTLY what we need to avoid stereotypes that #Neanderthal body processing & cannibalism were simply "brutal massacres"
Reposted by Zach Cofran
Yes, you CAN go back in time! This StoryMap allows readers to experience several hundred million years of Earth history in just minutes with a scroll-driven animation. Happy GIS Day too!
ow.ly/ZjFV50XsVbc
Want to know how the team did it?
ow.ly/gC3k50XsVQY
⚒️ 🧪 #gischat #geogsky #geogchat 🌎 🌍 🌏
ow.ly/ZjFV50XsVbc
Want to know how the team did it?
ow.ly/gC3k50XsVQY
⚒️ 🧪 #gischat #geogsky #geogchat 🌎 🌍 🌏
November 20, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Yes, you CAN go back in time! This StoryMap allows readers to experience several hundred million years of Earth history in just minutes with a scroll-driven animation. Happy GIS Day too!
ow.ly/ZjFV50XsVbc
Want to know how the team did it?
ow.ly/gC3k50XsVQY
⚒️ 🧪 #gischat #geogsky #geogchat 🌎 🌍 🌏
ow.ly/ZjFV50XsVbc
Want to know how the team did it?
ow.ly/gC3k50XsVQY
⚒️ 🧪 #gischat #geogsky #geogchat 🌎 🌍 🌏
Reposted by Zach Cofran
Not all sexual swellings signal fertility. Some signal strategy. In our new Current Biology paper, we show how gelada females “fake it” during male takeovers—and why it works.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1m7%7E93QW...
authors.elsevier.com/a/1m7%7E93QW...
November 19, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Not all sexual swellings signal fertility. Some signal strategy. In our new Current Biology paper, we show how gelada females “fake it” during male takeovers—and why it works.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1m7%7E93QW...
authors.elsevier.com/a/1m7%7E93QW...
Reposted by Zach Cofran
1,019 glaciers have disappeared since 1973 in Switzerland! ✝️
1st nationwide assessment of vanished glaciers:
>40% of the glaciers inventoried in 1973
~13% (47±3 km²) of total glacier area loss! 🧊🔥
But, as it is based on the latest inventory (from 2016), the actual figures are far much higher! 📈 😰
1st nationwide assessment of vanished glaciers:
>40% of the glaciers inventoried in 1973
~13% (47±3 km²) of total glacier area loss! 🧊🔥
But, as it is based on the latest inventory (from 2016), the actual figures are far much higher! 📈 😰
November 19, 2025 at 12:05 PM
1,019 glaciers have disappeared since 1973 in Switzerland! ✝️
1st nationwide assessment of vanished glaciers:
>40% of the glaciers inventoried in 1973
~13% (47±3 km²) of total glacier area loss! 🧊🔥
But, as it is based on the latest inventory (from 2016), the actual figures are far much higher! 📈 😰
1st nationwide assessment of vanished glaciers:
>40% of the glaciers inventoried in 1973
~13% (47±3 km²) of total glacier area loss! 🧊🔥
But, as it is based on the latest inventory (from 2016), the actual figures are far much higher! 📈 😰
Reposted by Zach Cofran
Ancient tooth proteins reveal the biological sex and genetic diversity of Paranthropus robustus.
Led by Dr. Palesa Madupe of the University of Copenhagen and UCT’s HERI, this study provides the oldest human genetic data from Africa.
🔗 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Led by Dr. Palesa Madupe of the University of Copenhagen and UCT’s HERI, this study provides the oldest human genetic data from Africa.
🔗 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
November 19, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Ancient tooth proteins reveal the biological sex and genetic diversity of Paranthropus robustus.
Led by Dr. Palesa Madupe of the University of Copenhagen and UCT’s HERI, this study provides the oldest human genetic data from Africa.
🔗 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Led by Dr. Palesa Madupe of the University of Copenhagen and UCT’s HERI, this study provides the oldest human genetic data from Africa.
🔗 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Gibbons Are Great reason one million: absolutely small apes with relatively big brains
November 18, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Gibbons Are Great reason one million: absolutely small apes with relatively big brains
Reposted by Zach Cofran
So Harvard is keeping this guy, but Claudine Gay had to step down over ginned up plagiarism accusations and bad-faith accusations of anti-Semitism.
Got it.
Got it.
Larry Summers tells @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social
he’s stepping back from all public commitments in light of his messages with Epstein, saying he is “deeply ashamed” and hopes “to rebuild trust and repair relationships.”
He will continue teaching.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
he’s stepping back from all public commitments in light of his messages with Epstein, saying he is “deeply ashamed” and hopes “to rebuild trust and repair relationships.”
He will continue teaching.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
November 18, 2025 at 5:10 AM
So Harvard is keeping this guy, but Claudine Gay had to step down over ginned up plagiarism accusations and bad-faith accusations of anti-Semitism.
Got it.
Got it.
Reposted by Zach Cofran
📆 Reminder: The deadline for Pollitzer Student Travel Awards to attend #AABA2026 in Denver is December 5. Be sure to submit your application! bioanth.org/about/willia...
William S. Pollitzer Student Travel Award - AABA
The Pollitzer Student Travel Awards are designed to help students defray the costs of attending the AABA meetings. The awards are named in honor of […]
bioanth.org
November 18, 2025 at 6:43 PM
📆 Reminder: The deadline for Pollitzer Student Travel Awards to attend #AABA2026 in Denver is December 5. Be sure to submit your application! bioanth.org/about/willia...
Reposted by Zach Cofran
I'm giving a talk at my work this week that is being broadcast online via Zoom! Maybe you're interested in watching?
"Archaeology of Ableism and Ableism in Archaeology: Building a More Rigorous Archaeology through Disability Studies"
Wednesday, November 19, 12-1pm Pacific
#academicsky 🏺♿
"Archaeology of Ableism and Ableism in Archaeology: Building a More Rigorous Archaeology through Disability Studies"
Wednesday, November 19, 12-1pm Pacific
#academicsky 🏺♿
November 17, 2025 at 9:24 PM
I'm giving a talk at my work this week that is being broadcast online via Zoom! Maybe you're interested in watching?
"Archaeology of Ableism and Ableism in Archaeology: Building a More Rigorous Archaeology through Disability Studies"
Wednesday, November 19, 12-1pm Pacific
#academicsky 🏺♿
"Archaeology of Ableism and Ableism in Archaeology: Building a More Rigorous Archaeology through Disability Studies"
Wednesday, November 19, 12-1pm Pacific
#academicsky 🏺♿
Reposted by Zach Cofran
I talked a bit with Jason about Grokipedia and it is, without exaggeration, like if you trained an LLM solely on white supremacist blogs and had it try to write Wikipedia entries. Some of the most insane stuff I’ve seen on the internet
Hard to find a clearer distillation of the gen ai project.
White nationalist talking points and racial pseudoscience: welcome to Elon Musk’s Grokipedia
World’s richest person wanted to ‘purge’ propaganda from Wikipedia, so he created a compendium of racist disinformation
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:08 PM
I talked a bit with Jason about Grokipedia and it is, without exaggeration, like if you trained an LLM solely on white supremacist blogs and had it try to write Wikipedia entries. Some of the most insane stuff I’ve seen on the internet
Reposted by Zach Cofran
Writing more about Homo erectus this week, podcast interview set up for Monday, giving a conference presentation on the topic Thursday. The topic is really heating up—prompted by the reconsideration of many of the early fossils from mainland Asia.
www.johnhawks.net/p/the-proble...
www.johnhawks.net/p/the-proble...
The problem skulls from Yunxian
The relationships of fossils from deep time in China may help reveal ancestral connections for the Denisovans
www.johnhawks.net
November 15, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Writing more about Homo erectus this week, podcast interview set up for Monday, giving a conference presentation on the topic Thursday. The topic is really heating up—prompted by the reconsideration of many of the early fossils from mainland Asia.
www.johnhawks.net/p/the-proble...
www.johnhawks.net/p/the-proble...